Florence + The Machine Talk Songwriting, Hip Hop And Covers

Florence Welch from Florence + The Machine sat down with KROQ/Los Angeles during this weekend’s Coachella festival to talk hip-hop, MTV Unplugged, and how she got her songwriting start.
Welch attributes her descriptive capability to her art historian professor mother, but she wasn’t exactly the best of students. She says she wrote her first, and self-described as, “terrible” songs while she was at school. “I think I was already writing about heartbreak,” laughed Welch. “I got into trouble for writing lyrics in my library books. If anyone at my school can find them, I’m sure they’re there.”

Her style has made her a favorite among hip-hop’s higher echelon. The singer has performed with Drake, is loved by Kanye West — who’s records she says “have inspired me so much,” and has been given props by Jay-Z. Welch said, “When we went to go see Jay-Z play I met him as he was driving his buggy up onto stage and he was like, ‘Oh my god. You’re here. Ok, I’m going to do a really good show now.’ What!”

Welch recently was recently featured in an episode of MTV Unplugged. She said it was hard choosing an acoustic cover but she settled on a standard from Otis Redding that was also sampled on Jay-Z and Kanye West’s single “Otis.” “I almost didn’t do ‘Try A Little Tenderness’ because it’s my favorite song and I thought, ‘I can’t do this,'” admitted Welch. “I didn’t know how to do it the same, but I just thought, ‘I’ve got to slow it down.'”